How do you feel about flying?
by jdho2
Summary: An unknown group of civilians is helping the Avengers on a mission, and Sam has to help one of them out of a tight spot.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** **Samtember Day 3** \- Today's prompt was merely "crossover AU," so, I mean, heeeeyyyyy! :) Also, guess what? It's another Soulmate AU.

 _ **How do you feel about flying?**_

On any Avengers mission, civilians were arguably the most complicated element. If someone was shooting at us, they were usually pretty easily labeled a bad guy, and they needed to be taken out or neutralized in some way. Sure the motives of the bad guys were sometimes complex and not clear, but it still boiled down to the fact that we needed to stop them.

As far as police were concerned, it was usually fairly easy to liaise with them. Often they were the ones who had called us in, or they would quickly recognize us if not. Most of the time whoever was in command was the one who made a beeline for Cap when they saw us. After uncovering HYDRA's infiltration in SHIELD,saying "trust all the cops," didn't really work for any of us. But usually we could expect them not to be actively shooting at or attacking us.

Civilians, however, existed on a broad spectrum. Some of them were foolishly unafraid, and that was dangerous for everyone involved. If a civilian ran out to try to take a selfie with action in the background, someone had to go and protect them, potentially being pulled off another task. Not to mention, running out so that you were in the line of sight of the bad guys and then turning your back on them to take a picture was a really good way to get hurt.

Some civilians panicked. They saw what happened and completely froze, staring dumbfounded at danger. For others in that same group, all self-preservation instincts seemed to be suppressed and they ran. But they did so blindly, full of fear and into a bad situation.

Then there were the civilians who were decidedly _other_ , a mixed bag that could be an asset or a hinderance. They occupied a variety of jobs and positions, but they were the fighters. Now, I couldn't hold it against them because I basically was one of them. When Captain America and the Black Widow showed up on my back porch needing help, I hadn't hesitated to join right in under really no one other than those two's authority. And many of the civilian fighters were like me, former military, law enforcement, etc. who were just trying to help.

When we showed up in Trenton, New Jersey to deal with some sort of robot problem, there was a large group of the last type of civilian actively fighting. They all seemed to be in some sort of uniform, but they definitely weren't cops. Those I saw were all men, and from the way they carried themselves and the techniques they used while fighting, I was fairly certain we were dealing with former-military.

Trenton was the site of the latest batch of wanna-be Emperors of the World testing out their own version of armored, powered robots. And they were bent on destruction, though thankfully they weren't all that good at it. The bodies of the robots were, as our civilian group appeared to have discovered, easily penetrable by bullets. That was the good news. The bad news was that they seemed to be modeled after cats for some reason. Or, well, I figured given their size it was more like they were modeled after tigers.

As soon as the jet landed, someone peeled off from one of the groups and ran for us, skidding to a stop and waiting for the ramp to close.

"My name is Ranger Manoso, CEO of Rangeman Security. I've got people in the field trying to help, and we're on frequency 443, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't shut that down. You're welcome to hop on if you need or want to listen in.

Cap gave me a look, and I commanded FRIDAY to tune in and relay that audio to me in addition to the team's. It made the most sense for me, as one of the lower firepower fliers who had a birdseye view of the scene to monitor that.

As we battled, it became clear that the civilian team wasn't all male. Strangely I kept hearing "Steph", "Babe", "Beautiful", "Little Girl", "Angel", and other definitely feminine names, but I only ever briefly caught sight of one woman. She seemed to be doing pretty well when confronted with a robot, but primarily was focused on clearing targeted areas of other civilians.

Things were beginning to wind down, and chatter on our civilians' channel was mostly quiet, when it opened again to the woman's voice saying, "Ranger, I need help."

"Tell me where you are, Babe. What the situation is," the voice I recognized from earlier prompted.

The connection opened again, only to cut out suddenly with a crashing noise. I had been standing on the roof of a building, looking for the next robot to fight when the woman had spoken. As soon as the connection violently broke, however, I took off.

Over the Avengers communication channel, I said, "alright, team, one of Manoso's team called in under distress. She was evacuating civilians when I caught sight of her earlier, so I don't know if she's alone."

"Can't you ask?" Steve panted out.

"Her mic went dead, and I don't think it was by choice." Then I caught sight of what I thought to be her, cornered by a pack of robots. Opening both airwaves, I reported "I got eyes on her, she appears to be alone. She's in an alley with a pack on her; I'm taking her out of there, then I'll circle back."

"I'm clear," Bucky said. "I've got eyes on your location; I'm moving in, and I'll take care of the robots as soon as you get her clear."

I thought that sounded even better. Barnes and his robot arm were easily able to rip through the inferior robots, and I didn't need to prove anything myself or anyone else on the team.

Swooping down, I landed between the woman and the approaching robots. I looked over my shoulder and hollered, "how do you feel about flying?"

"I've always wanted to fly," she said with a grin. "And now seems like the perfect time."

I spun around and pulled her into a brief kiss in acknowledgment of the fact that she'd said those words written in black on the palm of my hand. Of course, remembering the robots, I slid her arms up around my neck, smiled at her reassuringly, and we took off.

Once we were in the air, I said, "Steph, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm going to tell your team that I have you, where do you want me to take you?"

"Tell them I just met my soulmate, and we're going somewhere we can be alone."

Her eyes met mine in a challenge, and I let a smile cross my face. "We really are meant for each other, aren't we?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Samtember Day 4 -** Today's prompt reads, "September 20: That's how it is- It's shipping day! We don't care what pair/triple/quadruple/quintu- (you get the idea) it is, as long as Sam's being loved… and you tag your nsfw."

So! I'm making this a continuation of Day 3's "How Do You Feel About Flying?", it will be NSFW, and Sam is going to "be loved," but it will be from Steph's POV because I find smut easier to write that way. Oh, yeah, and smut, so NSFW! :) Really, it's not that bad, so I rated it M, but you know, use your own judgement. There will be some smut.

 _ **Samtember 4 - Bonding**_

My life was absolutely insane when I was a bounty hunter- a never ending run of insane cases, stalkers, and serial killers. After I decided to work full time for Rangeman, my life became comparatively tame. However, if you compared it to _before_ the bounty hunting, it was still rather action packed. Still, having my home in Trenton, New Jersey overrun by robots had been unexpected.

I'd been in the field with Hal at the time, running surveillance, so we'd been some of the first on scene. Once Ranger and the rest of the Rangeman employees showed up, we broke into the roles at which we were each the most effective. For me, that mostly involved trying to help people caught in the middle of the fight get to safety. Occasionally I had to fight a single robot, but the guys knew where I was and I was certain they were circling the areas in which I was working, trying to keep them mostly clear.

I was terrified that I was going to die that day because, well, robots with crazy teeth and fangs were everywhere. And they seemed to exist in numbers larger than I was worried Ranger and his men could handle. So when the Avengers showed up, I sighed with relief. Sure enough, the robots started getting killed much more quickly, and there were fewer people who I had to move out of danger.

Of course, I let my guard down, and didn't realize at first that I'd caught the eye- if you still called them eyes on robots- of four of the creations, and they were tailing me. I called in for help, but accidentally dropped my phone before I could call in my location. Cursing myself, I ran, only to have my soulmate swoop in and save me.

Falcon. My romantic soulmate was Falcon, aka Sam Wilson, a freaking Avenger! As I wrapped my arms around his neck so we could take off, I saw who I was fairly certain was the Winter Soldier tearing through the robots that had been setting up to attack me as if it was nothing. And I supposed it was when you had a metal arm and were, from what I understood, super strong and such.

Then I let it drift out of my mind and focused on the question Sam had asked me. When I told him to tell my team I'd found my soulmate and was going to spend time with him, I almost let go of my hold in reaction to his grin. It was cocky, sure, but oh so playful and sexy at the same time.

While I was daydreaming about that smile, I half-listened as Sam it seemed relayed a recording of my response to my team. I assumed that was to make sure they knew I really had said it. Then he spoke, presumably to his own team, though I wasn't quite focused on the words. Instead I was focusing on a pulsing that had started deep inside of me when he'd shifted his hold on me as he spoke.

Initially, I'd wrapped my legs around his weight to make it easier for him to carry me, and he'd used his arms to steer us around in flight. It seemed that he didn't always need them though, especially when gliding, and he grabbed onto my thighs when one or both of his hands were free. Once I'd told him I wanted to stay with him, he'd begun moving those hands, almost as though it was a reflex. One arm slid more firmly under my butt, but the other slid up my back and under my shirt.

I was fairly certain it was innocent and accidental when his hand touched my skin, and it didn't bother me. Plus he was my soulmate, and the hand was warm against my flesh that was chilling in the wind. Another couple inches up though, right between my shoulderblades, and I felt like I was zapped. Unable to hide my shiver, I was satisfied to realize that Sam had made a similar motion.

"Oh my god, Steph. Is that your…" Sam groaned.

"Soulmark? Yep, and I'm guessing yours is-"

"On the palm of my hand," Sam agreed. "I'm so glad I'm wearing a glove right now otherwise we'd probably crash. And even if we didn't crash, I don't think I'd be able to stop myself from trying to bond with you as soon as our feet touched solid ground if our marks were in direct contact."

I noticed that he hadn't moved his hand once our marks made contract through his glove, so I tightened my grip a little and ran a tongue along his ear as I whispered, "bonding sounds good to me, Sam."

There was a little dip in our flight path, and Sam muttered, "it's fine with me if that's what you want, but please, Steph don't do that while I'm flying. Especially when I'm about to land."

He trailed off just as there was a sudden bump and I could feel the air shift differently than it had been as his wings folded themselves away into the pack on his back. At no point did I even think there was a possibility the he'd drop me though, even if I did let out a surprised squeak.

Sam moved quickly and confidently, and even as my mouth started to wander down his neck, he managed to ask me, "how do you know my name?"

Pulling back in surprise, I said, "Sam. You're an Avenger; I'm pretty sure _everyone_ knows your name."

His smirk was sinful as he retorted, "oh, is that how it is?"

"You know damn well it is."

"FRIDAY, open the jet," he said.

"Uhhhh, what?" I responded because that made absolutely no sense.

"FRIDAY is our artificial intelligence, and I just asked her to open the jet so you and I could go inside while we wait for the rest of the team to finish cleaning up. Then we can go back to my place and get to know each other." He paused and went from self-assured to self-conscious as he added, "I mean, if you want. And I don't mean sex or bonding necessarily, I just meant I only really know your name is Steph and you work for a guy named Ranger. So what I'm saying is we could actually get to know each other."

I glanced around the jet briefly, glad to see the door closing behind us and to realize that Sam still hadn't moved his hand from where it rested on top of my soulmark. Taking that as a sign that he was just being polite, I muttered urgently, "sure, we can get to know each other. After."

Then I dragged his mouth down to mine, and learned another way I had won the soulmate lottery- he was a fabulous kisser. Before long I found myself shoved up against the wall of the jet as Sam wrestled control of the kiss from me. Not that I put up much of a fight because I was more than willing to let him take lead on that front. After all, we were pretty much guaranteed to be compatible in all things sexual.

I started to pull his hand away from my back, smiling a little at his sigh of protest. It turned into a full on pout when I tore my lips away from his as well, so I just patted him on the cheek and said, "I want to see them."

Eyes widening in understanding, he nodded his head and pulled both his gloves off. When he held his hand up to me, I traced my fingers lightly over my words written on his skin in black and nodded my head in confirmation- not that either of us really needed it.

Once I was satisfied for the moment, I brought his palm up to my mouth and kissed it while locking my eyes with Sam's. He licked his lips and then shifted his gaze and looked at me longingly. If it weren't for the current situation, I'd think he was staring at my breasts. In reality, though, I was fairly certain he was trying to see _through_ me to where his words were written on my back.

Saying a mental prayer of thanks that I'd put on a cute bra today, I whipped my shirt all the way off my head and turned my back to him. Unlike I'd chosen to do, he touched his words on me first with his mouth, pressing a gentle kiss to them.

"I figured, if my soulmate always wanted to fly, I might as well learn," Sam said reverently.

"You did a g-good job," I barely stuttered out as he shifted and pressed his palm flat against me, my words quickly turning into a heated moan.

"Steph," he gasped out, and I managed to think long enough to spin to face him again. Then I grabbed his hand and shoved it back toward my back, grateful when our marks reconnected at the same time our lips did.

I don't know how long we stood there, or rather Sam stood and I perched on him, making out against the wall like a couple of horny teenagers before the distant sound of a throat clearing broke through to my consciousness. I pulled back from Sam and blinked a couple times before I managed to focus beyond Sam's mouth drifting down the side of my neck and the way it was making me feel.

Standing behind Sam with a disapproving look on his face was Captain America.

So I did what I think most people would have done in that situation, I shrieked and pushed Sam away while trying to cover my mostly naked chest with one arm and muttering out, "I'm so, so sorry."

Then Captain America did the oddest thing. He tilted his head back and full on laughed. Sam rolled his eyes and said, "real nice, Cap. Don't worry about it, Steph, Steve here is a huge troll. He figures he only gets one chance to mess with people when they first meet him, and he takes advantage of it almost every time."

"Right," I said, wincing at how unconvinced I sounded. "Say, I don't suppose anyone has seen my-"

I cut off when the Winter Soldier just extended his arm with my shirt held out in his hand and an amused smile on his face. "Yep, that's my shirt, and thanks for, you know, killing those robots."

The smile widened and he said, "it was my pleasure, I assure you."

I turned my back on the group to pull my shirt on with some semblance of privacy, and noticed Sam shifting behind me when I did. Right, my boobs they could see, but my soulmark, hell no.

The laughter that filled the jet told me that I hadn't kept that inside my head and had instead spoken aloud. When I turned back, Sam was chuckling with everyone else, and he shrugged and said, "You have a bra on, and your soulmark seems more personal."

Hard to fault him there, so I walked up and leaned up to kiss him.

"Please don't start that again right now," Black Widow said. "We'll take you back to base and you can have two full days together before she has to go through lie detector testing, provided we get her full name."

"I'm Stephanie Michelle Plum, age 31, born and raised here in Trenton." I filled in before sheepishly adding, "I know who you all are."

After that, Sam and I sat down on one side of the jet, and everyone else sat as far away from us as possible. I didn't have time to be offended or anything because Sam just slid his hand once more up the back of my shirt, and I spent the rest of the flight back prodding the corner of my mind where I could feel our soulbond faintly beginning to take root.

By the time we made it to Sam's room, I was in his arms again, laughing as he fumbled with the door. I was surprised when he set me on my feet right in the doorway and said, "Steph, are you sure you want to bond. We don't have to do this right now."

"I've heard the bond is stronger when you complete it within the first few hours of meeting," I replied.

"Maybe so, but it's never been proven, and the bonds are plenty strong even among people who wait months after meeting. Not to mention all the people who meet as kids and have to wait years!"

I hummed in acknowledgment of his point, but nipped at his neck and said, "I won't make you if you don't want to, but I'd like to bond right this minute."

"I think I can last more than a minute," Sam quipped. "What about protection?"

"I'm on the pill, and I'm clean, though I suppose you have no reason to trust me on that."

Sam's phone beeped, and to my surprise, he read it before saying, "Natasha, uh, hacked into your medical records and confirmed both those things for me. She goes way too far sometimes, I promise that I will give her another lecture about privacy, and particularly about medical-"

I cut him off by pulling his mouth back down to mine as I asked, "you have condoms, right?"

In response, Sam picked me back up in his arms and carried me to his bedroom still kissing me. When he set me down on his bed, he moved to the bedside table and pulled out a box of condoms. I took advantage of the opportunity to strip myself, and had the pleasure of watching his jaw drop for a second. Then he followed suit, slid a condom on, and said, "condoms now and we can address it again later. Once we've gotten to know each other better and are both thinking a little more clearly."

I nodded my head eagerly and pulled him down to me saying, "you know what I like about our soulmarks?"

"What?" Sam asked distractedly.

"There's so many ways we can have sex with them touching- they're very versatile. Almost every position I can think of, you'd be able to get a hand on my back."

"Yeah, I like the way you think," Sam said. "But if it's alright with you, I think this first time, I'd like to see your face."

"Yes, please," I cried out. When his hand started stroking my clit, I let it go only for a couple of seconds before pulling it away and proclaiming, "seriously, the making out before the jet ride here, and then all that time with our marks in contact. I am foreplayed out for the moment. Can you please just… ah!"

I cried out with relief as Sam started pushing into me slowly but surely. It had been a while, so there were a few pauses for me to adjust before he was fully seated inside of me. Once he was though, I could feel my eyes practically glazing over before we even really started. As though he sensed my predicament, Sam chose that moment to start gliding in and out of me.

When we both started getting frantic, he shifted me a little, pulling me up with his hands. Then his right slid around to my back. At the same time he connected our soulbonds, his left hand found my breast and his lips took mine. There was a moment of complete warmth that ran through my body, leaving in its wake a sizzling in every nerve in my body.

I gasped and pulled back to look at Sam, realizing that I could now feel his pleasure mixing with mine in my mind. The combination of sensations was enough to pull me completely over the edge with a cry of delight, and Sam followed shortly.

Finally, we both stopped moving, and Sam pulled carefully out of me before collapsing onto the bed next to me. Then he groaned, "I think that was more than a minute, but honestly I'm not sure."

"I lost all ability to track time as soon as we started," I confessed. "However long it was, that was the best I've ever felt in my life. Hands down, no contest."

Sam shifted around a little as he disposed of the condom, then he settled on his side and rolled me onto mine so we were facing each other. "That was amazing, and the bond is quite strong. Not that I have had one before, but I feel like you're taking up more of my mind than I am right now. And you need to stop thinking those things because I'm going to need…" He looked down at himself, and I could feel surprise radiating off of him, then pride as he added, "only a few seconds apparently."

I pulled him back on top of me, and we proceeded to strengthen our bond for the first of many times over the next week… or two… or… well, we never really did stop getting closer and closer, but we did eventually leave that newly bonded honeymoon phase. Even if our friends swore we took unusually long to do so, I didn't care. We belonged together.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey, it's still September 20 here, so technically this one isn't late!


End file.
